Top 10 in Mercer Quality of Living survey

[KirkWilfred]

Top 10 in Mercer Quality of Living survey

1 Vienna Austria

2 Zurich Switzerland

3 Auckland New Zealand

4 Munich Germany

5 Duesseldorf Germany

5 Vancouver Canada

7 Frankfurt Germany

8 Geneva Switzerland

9 Bern Switzerland

10 Copenhagen Denmark

http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings

[dooder202]

Wow, surprised there's no US cities on there.

[mtrunner]

Interesting list but honestly I cannot see how there is not a US City until No. 29 and then they consider Honolulu as the top city. I cannot see how Honolulu is the top US city. San Francisco is definitely a great city but there are plenty of US cities that should have been well ahead of Honolulu.

[KirkWilfred]

Gary

I agree with you. I tend to think these surveys are incomplete but are interesting to read.

[dooder202]

Originally Posted by mtrunner

Interesting list but honestly I cannot see how there is not a US City until No. 29 and then they consider Honolulu as the top city. I cannot see how Honolulu is the top US city. San Francisco is definitely a great city but there are plenty of US cities that should have been well ahead of Honolulu.

Well I feel that the surveys are a bit biased per city. I mean, Honolulu is a tropical climate so I can see why everyone "loves" it there and puts down that their quality of life is more than superb!

[s.justinlee]

I guess I'm gonna have to move to Europe

[blackmsport]

Originally Posted by KirkWilfred

Top 10 in Mercer Quality of Living survey

1 Vienna Austria

2 Zurich Switzerland

3 Auckland New Zealand

4 Munich Germany

5 Duesseldorf Germany

5 Vancouver Canada

7 Frankfurt Germany

8 Geneva Switzerland

9 Bern Switzerland

10 Copenhagen Denmark

http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings

Survey with wrong sampling

No Australian cities

Thousands of Kiwi's migrate to Australia each month many from Auckland for one simple reason.... Better quality of life in Australia...

very few migrate from Australian cities to Auckland

Huh

[Lisa]

These kinds of reports are so subjective! Bleah. I wouldn't want to live in Honolulu anyway - too crowded and way too expensive!

[Zed Homme]

Originally Posted by mtrunner

Interesting list but honestly I cannot see how there is not a US City until No. 29 and then they consider Honolulu as the top city. I cannot see how Honolulu is the top US city. San Francisco is definitely a great city but there are plenty of US cities that should have been well ahead of Honolulu.

It is all in what the factors are in determining "best."

US cities have crumbling infrastructure, bad access to healthcare, and high crime rates. These factors kept US cities out of the top ten. Oslo dropped from top 5 to 24th because of the massacre there last year.

[JasoninDenver]

Every time I see these surveys I am reminded at how differently we in the US view what makes a livable city.

I remember friends from the states bitching about how there was no freeway access to downtown Vancouver and how everyone lived in much higher density housing; however, my Vancouver friends felt that this was part of why they liked the city so much.

Seems like us yanks seem to value: job opportunity, large & cheap housing, low taxes & private health care.

Europeans seem to value: stable social welfare/protection systems, denser & walkable urban environments, cultural offerings.

All my family still in Houston say they hate the city but won't move - even when the opportunity presents itself. I don't get it.

[KirkWilfred]

Originally Posted by JasoninDenver

Every time I see these surveys I am reminded at how differently we in the US view what makes a livable city.

I remember friends from the states bitching about how there was no freeway access to downtown Vancouver and how everyone lived in much higher density housing; however, my Vancouver friends felt that this was part of why they liked the city so much.

Seems like us yanks seem to value: job opportunity, large & cheap housing, low taxes & private health care.

Europeans seem to value: stable social welfare/protection systems, denser & walkable urban environments, cultural offerings.

All my family still in Houston say they hate the city but won't move - even when the opportunity presents itself. I don't get it.

Well said!

[Sarajevo]

Originally Posted by JasoninDenver

Every time I see these surveys I am reminded at how differently we in the US view what makes a livable city.

I remember friends from the states bitching about how there was no freeway access to downtown Vancouver and how everyone lived in much higher density housing; however, my Vancouver friends felt that this was part of why they liked the city so much.

Seems like us yanks seem to value: job opportunity, large & cheap housing, low taxes & private health care.

Europeans seem to value: stable social welfare/protection systems, denser & walkable urban environments, cultural offerings.

All my family still in Houston say they hate the city but won't move - even when the opportunity presents itself. I don't get it.

Very well said - the key is to know what you want and what you can gain from, and offer to, the place where you live. City surveys seem to be predicated on the assumption that you have endless supplies of money too. I like my cities to be a little bit rough around the edges....

[blackmsport]

these reports may be funded by real estate developers

[snowbird]

Interesting, it's a very different list than one that was posted on here a few months back - that one had several cities in Australia. The only city in common that I recall on the two lists is Vancouver.

This one has lots of cities with high quality of life but also high cost of living, e.g. Zurich.

[Dr. Robert]

I think they meant "Hanalei" instead of "Honolulu"........I'd rather live in Hanalei!
p.s. I am a former Austrian, now a US citizen fortunate to live in the San Francisco area.....I gotta say I like it here mo bettah than Vienna.......which is BLOODY cold
but I do miss the Sachertorte.

[InTime]

dont like the pollution in SF ( you can smell it if you are downtown from the cars ) and the bums and piss near the streets. but yes its nice.


how big does the city have to be?

[sea-dweller]

Glad to be living in the SF Bay Area also!

[taughtmepatience]

My favorites in order:

Sydney
London
Singapore
San Francisco
Berlin
Los Angeles
NYC

I like it a lot more diverse.

[TSts]

I went to Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, first time visit. How did it rank #5? Very poor highway/freeway infrastructure, yes, construction was going on, but still. Also those ridiculously slow speed limits! Ouch! Fortunately no tickets...

[Art 1]

Pittsburgh 49th? Hundreds of thousands of people have fled in the last few decades.

[Demosthene]

Originally Posted by blackmsport

Survey with wrong sampling

No Australian cities

Thousands of Kiwi's migrate to Australia each month many from Auckland for one simple reason.... Better quality of life in Australia...

very few migrate from Australian cities to Auckland

Huh

Yup definitely fishy having Auckland 3rd and no Australian cities in the top 10.

[gettocard]

Not surprised about Munich and Vancouver. Vienna is fine as long as your are at least 85 years old imho. Dull,boring,tedious and pompous city for me. But absolutely clean and safe.
It breaks my heart not to see any USA city but truth is most of the best USA cities in the last 10/15 years have gone down the drain in everything,especially safety.

[BarkMaster]

These surveys are way too subjective to take seriously.

[bayerische]

I'm surprised Helsinki wasn't higher than 35th!

Oh well... I don't think these surveys are all that accurate.

[Crazy Canuck]

Ottawa, Canada, where I live is #14. Think we were #12 last year.

#17 in personal safety although I think Ottawa is safer in general than Montreal, Vancouver or especially Toronto.

The list isn't that far from the truth. I'm sure if we follow it for several years the same cities will pop up in approximately the same ranking give or take some fluctuation.

[JasoninDenver]

Originally Posted by Dr. Robert

I think they meant "Hanalei" instead of "Honolulu"........I'd rather live in Hanalei!
p.s. I am a former Austrian, now a US citizen fortunate to live in the San Francisco area.....I gotta say I like it here mo bettah than Vienna.......which is BLOODY cold
but I do miss the Sachertorte.

Amen to Hamalei. I saw "The Desdendants" last week and am already dreaming of the next trip.

[Zed Homme]

Originally Posted by gettocard

It breaks my heart not to see any USA city but truth is most of the best USA cities in the last 10/15 years have gone down the drain in everything,especially safety.

Quite the contrary, US cities are much safer now than they were 10 or 15 years ago. All types of crimes are at their lowest since the 1960s, I guess we survived that crack epidemic afterall. That being said, the crime rates are significantly higher than other industrialized cities, and this survey made it clear that personal safety was one of their most important factors.